


Humor in Romance

by yourlibrarian



Series: Fanfic Genres [5]
Category: Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Humor, Meta, Romance, Writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:57:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6805618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obviously what's funny is in the eye of the beholder,  but I spent some time thinking about what factors make something either a funny story, or one with humor in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Humor in Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted September 17, 2015

I have a major gripe about humor, and what is actually funny. I recently followed a rec to a story that I could see, 5 pages in, wasn't going to be my thing. (I'm really not into can't-resist-an-asshole-because-he's-so-goodlooking stories -- I keep wanting the other protagonist to belt him one and go off and find happiness with someone else). 

However, the rec discussed how funny the author was and said that the story had a lot of humor. So I persisted because I really enjoy those sorts of stories -- romances that have witty banter or funny scenarios or just an amusing observational character voice. 

This (rather lengthy) story didn't have any of that. It was decently plotted, sufficiently well written and the later sex scenes were ok. If you liked its trope then it would probably have been good reading. But funny, or even mildly humorous, it was not. It wasn't even the case that the characters spent time laughing or that some minor character served as comic relief.

Obviously what's funny is in the eye of the beholder like so many things. But I was rather baffled at the use of this description when one could have praised the story in other ways. I've heard some people say that 50 Shades had a lot of (intentional) humor in it. Given that I haven't read it I couldn't say, but I find myself pretty dubious. Rather it leads me to believe that such recommendations come from people that are unused to having these two things combined in a romance, much less erotica.

However as a fanfic reader, especially one who's read plenty of Buffyverse fanfic, this combination doesn't seem at all unusual. Not everyone who writes in the Buffyverse tries to bring its signature humor to bear in their stories, but a lot do, or at least try to make characters that were 'funny' demonstrate that humor in their stories. 

So I spent some time thinking about what makes something either a funny story or one with humor in it, and where I tend to see these things.

1) Humor genre - These are stories that set out to be funny, usually by choosing some kind of premise that is either funny or that lends itself to a funny commentary on it. While I'd say these could happen in any of the major four fandoms I've read in, by and large these are a small part of what gets produced. (And given that I'm on a feed for all Merlin stories posted at AO3, I think I'm not wrong about that). Although the humor tag is a major one at AO3, I suspect it's more because stories _contain_ humor than because they're outright funny (or cracky) stories.

For example, I've seen the least humor in SPN canon stories, though that's hardly a surprise. With certain exceptions I think the show has never done that well with humor -- in fact, I'm more likely to have been irritated by what passes for it in a lot of episodes. Funny stories in SPN tended to be, for the most part, funny premises, which is to say humor stories rather than stories with hilarious narration (for example).

2) Humorous narration - While this often goes hand in hand with a humor story, I would say they're not always tied together. I've seen some stories that aren't really funny in premise, or which are more of a slice of life story, have a very entertaining narration. It might be sardonic, flighty, dry, or amused, but whatever humor appears in the story comes mostly from the way it's described or the characters are sketched.

This appears a good deal in both Buffy and Merlin stories, I've noticed. In fact I recently read a Merlin story which had some pretty awful things happen in it, yet the charm of the story was almost entirely in its narrative voice.

3) Dialogue - Witty banter is a tough thing to pull off well but an utter delight when it exists. For stories focusing on certain relationships or characters it's critical though. Merlin and Arthur are one example; any story focusing on Tony Stark is another. If there's more than just token exchanges the story might well qualify as funny.

Merlin is, in general, a fandom with a lot of humor in it. Though I found the show less funny than it intended to be, there were definitely some entertaining exchanges (particularly between Arthur and Merlin) and quite a few fan writers at least attempt to make the two banter, whether their stories are AUs or canon-era. There's often humor in the stories, even if it's only from Gwaine serving as comic relief.

I'd say that most stories in Buffy need to have some kind of quippiness if they want to stay true to canon. However, I wouldn't say that this reflection of canon makes a story funny by itself. I think, for example, that there are certain episodes in Angel or Buffy no one would describe as comedic even if there may have been the odd moment of humor or some very funny lines in it.

4) Comic Relief - While most canon tends to have comic relief done by one or more secondary characters (such as the droids in Star Wars), I think there are quite a few stories whose main character or characters are inherently funny people, even if the nature of the story itself isn't comedic.

For example, several Avengers characters may be comic relief in a story, such as Tony, Clint, and Thor. The first two tend to be big on banter and Thor tends to get portrayed as either a fish out of water, or just a big goof by nature. In Buffy virtually every character is potential comic relief, although some are more likely to provide it than others (Xander, Anya, Cordelia, and Lorne for example). In Merlin it's almost always Gwaine, although Will often fills that role as well (a bit odd really, given that what we saw of him in canon wasn't all that light hearted). By comparison, I've never seen Leon fill that spot.

Sometimes that comic relief can be so entertaining that it's worth the read on its own. I read an enormously long Darcy/Loki story primarily because Darcy's depiction and voice was so amusing that I could overlook the way the plot meandered and scenes went off into increasingly tiresome sex as the story rolled on. Not only was the depiction of Darcy one of the better ones I've seen, but I regularly laughed out loud at something or other being said. 

Especially if the comedic character is the main protagonist I think "comic relief" can overlap a lot with narrative voice, even though few fanfics tend to use first person storytelling. In the Darcy story though, I think this was different as what tended to be funny were things Darcy said or did rather than the overall approach to the story.

It's also possible that a story's subplot or side plot could be outright funny, even if the rest of the story is anything but. However, I'd still dub that to be a sort of comic relief, even if it isn't enacted by specific characters designated for that purpose. 

Other than these four things, can anyone think of other types of humor usage that might make you call a story (or writer) funny, even when the story is not a humor genre tale?


End file.
